Upon the Hill
by Ripple Effects
Summary: Ever since its appearance, he wondered about the mansion - the mansion sitting upon the hill that overlooked the city of Magnolia. There was never much to say until a someone appeared by the window, her hair fluttering in waves and her eyes that could ripple into another dimension. A fallen angel.


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 **CHAPTER ONE**

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As a nine year old boy, Natsu Dragneel always wondered why the castle-like mansion appeared one day on the tallest hill of Magnolia. Through his room window, he would occasionally peer out, sneaking futile glances at the mansion - waiting for the minute it would pick itself off its feet and saunter away as quickly as it had materialized.

Though the mansion unsurprisingly never did, he would continue to look over while playing, stare while talking, and gaze at it some more before sweeping off into the busy Magnolian streets. He noticed no one paid any attention to the massive infrastructure. It was just him, watching it tower high and above the rest of the city. He couldn't quite grab why he was charmed. There was just a peculiar taste that ran through his mouth every time he observed the mysterious mansion. It was a word his young mind never encountered or knew, but he was aware that it existed for this feeling.

"Dad, what's a word for something you feel sad but not sad about?" he asked at the dinner table, where they shared a whole chicken. When his father could only offer a confused glance, Natsu continued, "I always get this feeling when I look or think about this one place. It makes my stomach feel weird. And I get lonely."

His father sighed - Natsu swore he saw smoke flare out of his nostrils – and lightly tapped his chin before he pondered, "Loneliness. Sadness but not sadness... And making your stomach feel weird. Do you mean the word _nostalgia_?"

Nostalgia. Natsu never forgot this particular word, even though he was never the type to do that. His father, Igneel, did not go into depth, but the boy felt like it was the right word. Something clicked the moment he heard it spoken. Something sparked and conducted the lightbulbs that brightened his mind. In every class essay Natsu wrote, he never failed to include the word, though he was reprimanded a few times for using it incorrectly.

"Natsu," Miss Evergreen sucked in a breath through her teeth, "you can't use ' _nostalgia_ ' like this. Do you know what it even means?"

"Sad and lonely. And hungry," he added at the end.

"What are yo – okay…" She took off her glasses and rubbed her eyes, already familiar with her student's strange explanations and outlook on life. "You were right in the first half. But Natsu, if you use it like this, it doesn't make sense. See, look." The brunette teacher picked up Natsu's essay and read out loud, " _He partied nostalgically and fought like a man."_

"It makes sense to me," Natsu argued. "Sometimes you can be sad while you're partying."

"Then what about the second part of the sentence?"

The boy shrugged nonchalantly. "Sometimes you gotta let out your stress by fighting people."

Miss Evergreen, after checking if her student was serious for a potential gangster future, quickly dismissed Natsu, tired from his antics that often appeared in his writing. He didn't think much of it because as soon as class was dismissed, the young untroubled Natsu sprang from his desk and flew toward his house, galloping in freedom as he gazed at the mansion.

It was what he did everyday.

* * *

One peculiar thought never crossed his mind until a Saturday morning rolled by, when he was playing Frisbee with the stupid Gray Fullbuster next door and the infamous warrior-girl Erza Scarlet. He didn't know why he liked to play with them, but he knew there was a strange relationship between them that the three of them had mutually accepted.

"Why are your throws so wimpy?!" Natsu snapped at Gray, who bristled in irritation.

"Not like yours are any better, flame breath!" he retorted.

"Uh, are you bli-?!"

Natsu was immediately cut off when he sensed a demonic presence behind him. He audibly gulped before running to Gray and slinging an arm across his shoulders. "I m-meant, are you….uh…blind of your awesome talents for throwing?! Ahahaha…" he finished lamely.

"Y-yeah! Uhm, your Frisbee skills are p-pretty amazing as well, best friend!" Gray offered.

Instantly, the devilish aura vaporized, revealing a smiling redheaded girl, who nodded in approval. "Good to see you two get along. Shall we continue?"

"YEP!" they squeaked.

However, it wasn't long after the half-hearted compromise that Gray had launched the Frisbee twenty feet above Natsu.

"Are you stupid?! What's wrong with your flipping hand?!" Natsu roared as he spun around and chased after the flying toy.

"You're just too short, midget!" Natsu heard Gray shouting out behind before the pink-haired boy shook his head and fixated his eyes upon the red Frisbee. For a full minute, they were still focused. At two, they faltered. And at three, his eyes instinctively were drawn toward the mansion.

Yellow walls. White-outlined windows. Blue-teal roofs. He realized that ten of the largest houses in Magnolia lined up still couldn't beat the width of the mysterious mansion. Tall windows stood on either side of the center, which had a leading staircase to its entrance. It was fancy and big, as Natsu could describe in his dictionary. Perhaps regal. There were so many windows that he always lost track in counting, so his eyes wandered and wandered.

Until something stopped his breath.

A hand.

He couldn't quite describe the supernatural feeling when he saw the feminine hand gently push away the curtains, revealing a blonde girl with large, hazelnut eyes. She was crying, he had noticed. Her eyes were puffy and red. Natsu could almost hear her sniffling as she rubbed her red nose and fluttered her eyes. Her hair, unkempt and crimped, still looked natural as the waves cascaded past her shoulders and down her white summer dress.

She looked like a fallen angel.

His breath hitched when she looked up, gazed across the city, and finally stared back at Natsu. At that peculiar moment, it felt like his soul flew out of his still-running body and headed straight for the mansion, zipping across the hills before he settled on the windowsill and touched the cool tempered glass with his forehead.

Her mouth opened. Her pink lips moved as she mouthed words to him, indistinct and quick. And finally, she smiled, her eyes sparkling with tears and curved like moon crescents. Her hand slid down on the curtains, draping them across.

And she disappeared.

He gaped in amazement before a sudden wall slammed into his face and knocked him into darkness.

* * *

"Uurgh…."

"I think the idiot's waking up."

"What did you call him, Gray?!"

"I m-mean, best friend!"

Natsu opened his eyes, squinting as they adjusted to the noon-high sun. "Whut happehn," he slurred dumbly and groaned.

"You ran into a pole and passed out for five minutes," Gray sighed into his hand. "What were you thinking about that made you unaware of a pole in front of you?"

"Nngghhh….my face has a reeaaaallyy weird feeling."

"That's pain."

Natsu stumbled as he pulled himself up with Erza's gruff help. He blinked in confusion before a blank expression overtook his face. He squirmed, squatted down, and contemplated before the thought smacked him on the head. "The mansion!" he cried out and looked back at the building. It was still there of course. However, it was different; the mansion now seemed further. It felt like everything was zoomed out. He couldn't even make out the details of the mansion unlike before. The windows were so small…like ants. He blinked.

Windows. What was he forgetting?

"What?"

He rolled back and forth on his heels, trying to rewind his memories. The mansion was big. It had many windows. And there was….the girl! He snapped his head back at Gray and Erza. "Tell me who lives there!" he demanded and pointed at the mansion.

There was an awkward silence to the unanswered demand.

"Weird question," Erza finally said, ignoring Gray's 'It wasn't a question' mutter.

"I saw a girl! A blonde girl through a window!" Natsu shouted enthusiastically. "She had hair down to her stomach. A bit shorter than yours, Erza. And he had a white dress. And she had brown eyes. And she seemed to be troubled about something- I don't really know but…" he rambled on before he was stopped by Gray's pat.

"Natsu..." Gray slowly squatted down next to him. "is your head alright?"

"Of course!" he snapped. "What's wrong with you?"

Erza placed her hands on Natsu's shoulders, her eyes serious. "Natsu, there's no way you can see anything over there."

"I know that! But I swear that I saw her! I remember every detail!" he insisted.

The raven-haired boy drew circles next to his head. "Forget it, Erza. He's gone cuckoo crazy."

Flustered, Natsu stumbled over to Gray and shoved him harshly. "I know what I saw," he growled. "You guys just don't want to believe me because I smacked my head on a pole."

Gray rolled his eyes.

And Erza cleared her throat. "It's not because we don't want to believe you, Natsu. It's because it's literally…well, er….impossible."

"It too is possible!" he roared back, flaming in anger and frustration. "Why are you guys being so stubborn?! The mansion's fricking gigantic anyways! And it's standing on that giant hill!" Natsu threw his hands at the building for emphasis, which caused the two friends to look over…then back at Natsu in confusion.

"Natsu," Gray sighed in frustration himself. "We don't even know what mansion you're talking about."

"What? It's there! On the Magnolia's tallest hill! R-right there! The girl's in it!" he sputtered and pointed again. It was impossible to miss. It was something that could be used as a landmark, something so noticeable that one could see it the next town over. He didn't understand why they asked which mansion. It was the only mansion in Magnolia.

"I'm lost," Gray sighed yet again.

"Don't you know about Magnolia's tallest hill?" Natsu tried.

"Duh, of course we do," the other boy drawled and pointed to the same hill of Natsu's interest. "It's right there."

He sighed. They were on the same page at least. "Alright," he said, "so the mansion on that hill-"

Erza cut him off by stepping in front of him. She folded her arms, frowning.

"That's the thing. There's nothing on that hill, Natsu."

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 **A/N: Drabble. It doesn't deserve these fancy borders, but they're pretty...so I'm putting them on. Also, I'm bored and very sleep deprived. It's only 6 PM here, but good night, children.**

 **Credits to Esa MaRie for those fancy asterisk/period/semi-colon/apostrophe/comma/squiggly-line borders. :D**


End file.
